


Seventeen

by Yokaikohai



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Cuddle, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Forehead Kisses, I'm Sorry, THIS IS GUSHY, Too much fluff, ahhh, sleepover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:09:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23181496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yokaikohai/pseuds/Yokaikohai
Summary: It's Steven's 17th birthday, and Connie's mom has finally agreed to let her sleepover.-team Steven is 17 and the crew just forgot and it's a continuity error
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Comments: 24
Kudos: 126





	Seventeen

**Author's Note:**

> i'm SORRY THIS IS REALLY GUSHY 
> 
> Didn't proof read, we die like men.
> 
> This is the first fic I wrote but the second one I’ve uploaded
> 
> Made a discord server for 18+ people! Please join, we're small and friendly https://discord.gg/mzMRsJ7

Steven couldn’t quite pinpoint the moment their touches started to linger. When their hugs started to last longer than normal (three seconds being the norm apparently). When their occasional handholding developed into frequent handholding with added thumb rubs of comfort. When she started to lean into his side at any giving opportunity, melting into him and soaking up all his warmth. 

It wasn’t just the affectionate touches that were changing. It was also the gestures, and the realisation of how intimate the smallest of interactions could be.  
The way he’d offer her his jackets, hoodies, coats, anything that would keep her warm whenever it was cold out and she had forgotten to bring an extra layer with her, and she’d always happily accept. The way her perfume would cling onto his clothes, and he’d climb into bed after a long day in the town with her, pull a jacket over his shoulders as an extra layer and her scent from said jacket danced into his nose and sent electrical buzzes into his stomach.  
It was just another something to add to his ever-growing list of things that were changing, the only difference was, this change didn’t scare him exactly. Maybe it made him just a little bit nervous, but not scared. This was controllable.  
It wasn’t scary no, just different. 

He was going to be in control this time. Usually Connie was the one who initiated anything that could be mistaken as romantic, the one who’d pounce on him for a hug or affection and it always made him freeze up, things were changing so fast so it was about time he started to change things around himself once again.  
Steven was going to take the bull by the horns, or, should he say, the Connie by the arms? Anyway, the exact wording of the metaphor didn’t matter right now…he didn’t have time for that. All that mattered was that he was going to take the initiative.  
It was August fifteenth. His birthday and today he was seventeen. 

Sitting in the sand, listening to the sea’s waves crash back and forth, his guitar lay resting in his lap. Gently strumming away at the strings, the sun was low, and shadows cast had an orange tint to them. Steven was too relaxed to even notice the silhouette that seemed to be approaching his house from afar. 

That was until, it called out to him.

He whipped his head around to the direction of the voice.  
“C-Connie?” he called out.  
Connie let out a small giggle as she picked up her pace towards him, “Hi Steven!”.  
Setting his guitar to the side, he lifted himself up, and ran to meet her halfway, “Connie~!”  
He collided into her, wrapping his arms low around her waist before picking her up as high as he could into the air, without giving her a second chance to squirm away, he began to spin around with her on the spot all while laughing with her. 

“Steven! Put me down, I’m getting dizzy!” she laughed.  
The velocity of his spin slowed down, but his brain did the opposite. It had been weeks since he last saw her, Steven found himself physically reaching out to her more and more. 

He couldn’t help himself, he missed her. It seemed like the only way to emphasised just how much he did was to get as close as possible and hold on for as long as possible. He was way too excited. 

“Okay, okay!” He laughed, “What are you doing here?”  
Connie let out a low-toned-chuckle as her vision caught up with her, her hands scrunching into his chest to keep her balance, “I have a surprise for you.”  
Steven raised his eyebrows, “Oh yeah?”  
She nodded, bobbing up and down on the spot visibility excited, “Mhm! My mom is letting me stay over the night for your birthday!”  
His eyes widened and an even bigger smile creeped onto his face, “W-what?! Seriously?”  
Connie dropped her hand from his chest and held the side of her elbow, “Yeah! I was amazed too, she had a long, uh, chat with me about the “dos” and don’ts” of sleepovers.” 

“Yeah, that’s doctor Maheswaran for you.” 

“Steven, the talk was two hours long. It was hell!!” 

“Yeah? That’s doctor Maheswaran for you.” 

“What are you trying to imply about my mother, Universe? Give me some sympathy here!” she jokingly retorted while gently “hitting” him with the back of her hand to which he instantly chuckled at.  
“What did you expect!? She’s a doctor. Of course, she’s going to get scientific and graphic when it comes to your safety.” Steven paused,” Also, she’s super protective.” He added with a shrug.  
“eck…. How come this stuff doesn’t bother you as much?”  
Steven raised one arm behind his head and shrugged again, “Eh, I was raised around rock music, it can get pretty provocative.” He bounced his eyebrows twice which led to them both hunching over snorting with laughter.  
Connie caught her breath again before standing up straight, wiping a few joyful tears from under her eyes, “Okay, okay, I get it.” She paused, bringing one hand to her neck, “I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner. One of the conditions of being able to stay over tonight was catching up with schoolwork, studying, chores…all that stuff.” 

Steven chuckled and began walking back towards the spot he was relaxing in earlier, “Don’t worry, still plenty of time left to celebrate. Plus, this way we get to hang out without anyone interrupting us.”  
Luckily, he had his back turned to her, because a small blush appeared on his face, he did not mean for that to sound so…suggestive. It was just bad wording, in the wrong time and place. The more he thought about it, he did want to spend time with her and only her. He had enough of socialising earlier whenever the gems threw him a surprize party. Plenty of gems joined in, students, teachers, and even Lars and the off colours joined in for a bit. The crowding of the rooms, the volume of the chattering, people inserting themselves into his personal space to congratulate him on being born. It was all from a place of love, and he did enjoy it and he did appreciate it, but it was tiring at times. Gem gatherings were always rowdier that human ones which resulted in his social meter bleeding out completely empty. 

Not that spending time with Connie wasn’t socially stimming enough. It was that it was just easy. Spending time with her was something he could do any time of the week, no matter how bad, low or tired he was feeling. She could never drain his meter. He always wanted her attention. 

It was nice to have some human time.

After Steven grabbed his guitar from the sand, the pair both picked up their pace and headed for the house.  
In through the door they were greeted by Amethyst lounging on the sofa, upside down, stuffing her face with left-over birthday cake. She offered a smile wave of her hand and a “yo”. 

Connie headed for the stairs, “I’m going to leave my stuff upstairs if that’s alright?”  
Steven nodded, “Yeah of course!”  
She ran up the stairs and his attention turned to Amethyst.  
He took him a couple minutes longer than expected to him his trip up the stairs to join her. 

Connie had already thrown her bags down by the side of his bed. She was sitting on his bed, legs swinging off the edge as she waited.  
She turned her attention to the entrance of the of the staircase as Steven thumped up the stairs to meet her, he stopped at the top and paused, offering her a gentle smile, “Sorry, Amethyst was trying to push my buttons a bit.”  
Steven wandered over in front of her and reached his arms out to her, he made a soft grabbing motion twice with his hands, gesturing for her to stand up next to him. Connie tucks her hair behind her ear, she offers him a soft smile and slips her hands into his. He gives her a small tug up onto feet and she wraps her arms around his neck, and he pulls her closer into him by her waist.  
Their embrace lasted only a few seconds as Connie quickly push him away, hands on his shoulders, almost clawing into him, “Steven…have you gotten taller…AGAIN?” she laughed, “You need to stop soon! I can’t keep up!”  
He blushed slightly and replied with a goofy laugh, “I can’t help it! You’re going to have to step up your game.”  
She starts to rub circles into his shoulders, the electricity from her fingertips is sending shock waves down his spine. If she continues like this, he’s going become paralysed.  
“Your shoulders are broader than the last time…”  
He believes he sees a tint of pink dusting her cheeks, but he could be just seeing things, so he throws his hands up in a defeated gesture, “Well….” He averts his gaze from her.  
Connie pretends to pout, “Just a couple of months ago you were nearly a foot shorter than me,” she crosses her arms, “and I’m pretty sure I had more muscle than you do now. These protein shakes really getting to you.” She jokes.  
Steven laughs and then flexes his arms playfully, “Gotta be strong’ when you’re saving the galaxy!” he pauses, “Speaking of saving the galaxy…you should see the present my dad got me!” he rushes over to his TV, dropping to his knees he fumbles around. His T.V and all its components had been abandoned for some time by the looks of it, video game consoles, box sets, remote controls and a collection of trading cards. Dust had declared itself ruler of this small land as it coated everything and every little crevice. Steven freed the collect of consoles and boxes as he blew off the overbearing dust. There was a brand-new console in town, ready to get the television back in action and ready to boot up again. 

There was a small coloured box sleeping beside his set-up, he reached into it and pulled out a video game, still crouching in the same spot, he turned his upper torso to meet her gaze, he presented the box with a “ta-da” sounding effect. 

Connie stumbles over to him as quickly as she can, kneeling into the same position as him, “THE NEW STAR SAMURAI GOUGE ANNIHILATION CHRONICLES?” she gasps, “But…that’s only available on…” 

“MIMBENDO SWAP.” The pair said simultaneously. 

Connie’s face dropped.  
Steven bounced on the spot excitedly, “Yeah my dad got it for me!”  
She plucked the case from his hands and studied the box art, “Gosh, you’re so lucky…” her attention drifted to the small ‘M, 17+’ rating symbol in the corner, “My mom won’t let me play mature rated games…”  
Steven hummed as he grabbed the box back, waving it in front of her face as if he was a bullfighter, she was a bull, and the case was a red flag, “She never said you couldn’t watch someone else play it though~”  
Connie gasps loudly, “Universe, you are sneaky!”  
He laughs at her excitement, the way her face is lighting up, it’s so endearing.  
“Well, what are we waiting for?” he says, opening the box and popping out the cartridge. Connie has already bounced her way over to his bed, diving headfirst under covers.  
Steven inserts the game into the console, pulls his television forward a bit more, and flicks the power button on. He makes a dive for his bed and lands beside Connie, the sudden weight change causes the springs to bounce and send her flying into his side, “ARE YOU READY?”  
Connie bunches her fists in an enthusiastic manner, “YOU KNOW IT!”  
Steven watches the screen boot up from a black screen to the main menu section. Each option was underscored by a planet being pierced by a sword; various characters were displayed faintly in the background. They both squeed with excitement. When an optioned was selected, blood squirted into the camera, drowning the screen in red before it faded out into a black screen with a loading symbol in the corner, the pair both made awestruck noises. 

An hour or so had passed by and Steven was getting physically agitated, he was leaning forward, his legs crossed, his tongue was sticking out the side of his mouth from focusing and Connie was shouting commands at him. “NO, THAT WAY- NO DUCK! STEVEN, DUCK!” -SPLAT.  
The screen turned red with giant bold letters announcing that was the game over, Steven groaned loudly, defeated, and threw his head back, “CONNIE I CAN’T DO THIS~” He exaggerated.  
Connie laughed, “Let me try!” she placed her hand out, demanding the controller, “Bet I could complete this level.”  
Steven pulled the controller closer into him and gasped sarcastically, “You would DISOBEY your mother!?”  
“It’s for a good cause!” she fought back, “I need to do this for you.”  
He reluctantly hands her the remote, “Good luck.”  
After fifteen attempts Connie was showing the same symptoms of agitation that Steven was, she was aggressively trapping the side of the controller with her finger as the game loaded her sixteenth attempt, hunched over, grumpily leaning her elbow on the bed and his chin resting in her hand, Steven was trying not to laugh. 

“So~ how’s it going?” he teased,  
“Can it, Universe.” She bit back. 

Within five seconds of the level starting up, she had already died, again. She threw her head back again and groaned loudly in an annoyed tone, Steven also threw his head back, his wasn’t in anger but laughter, he found this hilarious.  
She sat herself upright again and handed him the remote, offering him a defeated sigh, “okay, okay, your turn again.”  
He swiped the remote off from her again, “Gladly.”  
Steven’s mind wondered while the loading screen took over the television once again, how long had he and Connie been sitting here next to each other? Maybe almost an hour or two and all he had concentrated on was the T.V screen, only offering his attention briefly to her occasionally. So much time had passed, it was nearly pitch-black outside and in, the only light shining was the dim colours radiating from the bloody-bloody game. He couldn’t lie to himself; he felt a small pang of guilt, she had come all this way to spend time with him, she had to endure a two-hour talk with her mom to convince her to stay over the night he could at least offer her a friendly touch. 

The level loaded up again and he sighed, he swung his arm around her waist, his hand met with the controller again. Steven took a deep breath, “Let’s try this again!”  
He felt Connie’s entire body tense up from the sudden change of position, after a second she relaxes herself again, “Y-yeah! Good luck!”  
Before Steven tilted the analog stick forward to move the protagonist, he quickly glanced at Connie’s face, he wasn’t sure if the red tinge on her cheeks was from his touch or from the red hues reflecting onto her skin from the monitor. Connie was always more forward with her affection even though he was the more affectionate one between the both. She was just a more forward-thinking confident person, she was always the one reaching out to him first, but once she in initiated that first touch, he was always more comfortable to cosy up to her. Just by taking action first, he felt her entire body halt and go stiff for a brief second, is this what she felt from him whenever she would tousle his hair, grab his hand, or -what she did a couple months ago- reach her hand on his chest and kiss his cheek?  
He wasn’t sure whether he should feel guilty or proud of the effect he -assumed- he had on her in this moment. This all could have been a giant miscalculation and perhaps he was making her…uncomfortable. Surely, she’d let him know right? She’s always so honest and brave, pushing herself to put herself first.  
Steven continues on with his game. 

It takes him another whole hour to finally complete the level, “Ugh…finally!” He says quietly setting the remote down in front of him, it was getting late and he didn’t want to get too loud or rowdy. Steven glanced down at Connie, his heart skipped a beat as he seen that she was fast asleep, her arms wrapped around his forearm. He can’t help but stare at her, she looks so peaceful. He’s never noticed just how long her eyelashes were, and just how flawless her skin is. He has always known that she’s a beautiful girl, but he’s never realised how cute she ACTUALLY is…and it wasn’t just because she cuddled up happily into his side. She must of slide down the bed a little, drifted off while he was so absorbed in his video game, he just concluded that she was watching him play, allowing him to concentrate, silently routing for him to FINALLY complete this absolute hell level. 

Steven lets out a tired yawn and begins to gently shuffle down horizontally beside her, he’s been staring at a screen for nearly three hours give or take, no one could blame him for dozing off along side of her. He smoothly removes her arms that were currently wrapped around one of his, re-positions them over his chest, as he slowly slides his arm underneath her to wrap around her waist, she stirs slightly in her sleep, shuffling closer into him. The little noise she made was enough to jump-start his heart if he ever needed it. Laying on his back, he places an arm behind his arm and shuts his eyes, just for a little, he just needs to gain a little more energy to continue with STAR SAMURAI GOUGE ANNIHILATION CHRONICLES™. He can feel himself dozing off, he doesn’t fight it.

VRRM-  
VRRM-  
There is a strange sensation attacking him, attacking his peaceful sleep, but its not enough to drag him out of it.  
VRRM-  
VRRM-  
The strange sensation is attacking him again, along with the feeling of something warm moving beside him, this time, it was strong enough to pull him from his slumber. 

Steven groans, he’s awake now. The vibrating feeling was coming from his pocket. The warm feeling was Connie waking up beside him-Probably woken from his phone that was buzzing.  
He feels Connie’s arm stretch as it lays over him, she opens one eye, “…What is it…?” she yawns.  
Steven reaches into his chest pocket and pulls out his phone, the backlight flashes up on screen and he closes one eye to try and shield himself from the assault on his vision. “Just Ronaldo wishing me a late happy birthday…” 

There’s a pause. 

Suddenly Connie bolts upright, she’s full of energy for some reason.  
“S-Steven I just realised! I never wished you a happy birthday!” she confesses.  
Steven glances at her and back to his phone, the clock reads 00:56am.  
“Well…luckily you’ve got four more minutes to.”  
And just like that, she’s towering over him, her hands are warm and they’re creeping their way up his face. Up the sides of his cheeks, there’s a force pulling his head towards her.  
She plants the sweetest kiss on his forehead,  
“Happy birthday Steven!” 

Oh god.  
Oh god.

His heart has just dropped what feels like seventeen feet into his apparently never-ending stomach-and as if it was attached to a spring, has sprung right back up to hit him- His face was red all over.  
He’s supposed to be the one taking initiative, biting the bullet, yet here she is, outdoing him again. She’s looking at him, she’s still towering over him, he doesn’t know what to right now, how to process this. What’s he supposed to say? What’s he supposed to do?  
He doesn’t know, so he just reaches out to her and pulls her down into him, nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck, she’s so warm. Surely his face is on fire now, he doesn’t want to scald her, but he wants to hide his furious blushing.  
-And now his thoughts are racing in all sorts of different directions, directions he didn’t even know existed. He needs to reply, or this is going to be awkward. 

His mind was stuck somewhere between saying “You know... some more kisses would be nice...” and, “I can’t believe I’m seventeen now… “  
This first option, too forward maybe? He wasn’t exactly experienced enough in the field of romance yet, sure he loved rom-coms, sappy love novels, weddings and the general idea of being in love but, he had never actually been in a real relationship before. How could he even be sure that his attempt to sway her into giving him some kisses wouldn’t come across as creepy or even pushy? Yeah, that option is out of the question. Anyway, even if she wasn’t the romantic type, she would be the one to initiate that sort of thing. She did kiss him first...two times in fact, even if it was just on the cheek and then forehead maybe she would be happy enough to supply. After all it was HIS birthday.  
The second option seems like a cop out, and as if he has nothing to say to her. Connie, his best friend of 4 years. Yes, admittedly it was true, but she didn’t have to know that.

Connie deserves better than that. 

The longer he thought about how to reply, the longer he was stuck just being nestled into her neck in awkward silence. She was starting to stiffen her arms around him, the last thing he would want is Connie feeling as if she can’t be touchy with him, that’s the only thing he wants right now, so he’s gotta make up his mind and reply instead of being stuck in this crushing atmosphere. Of course, his mind was running about fifteen miles per hour, and all over this overthinking happened within the space of five seconds, less if even.  
His brain was in overload, so his mouth decided to answer for him in a rush, mixing the two phases together at once. Pulling away from her embrace he tried his best to look her in the eye, “You know...I believe seventeen I’m now...?”

What? WHAT? That’s a strange sentence, especially with the strong intonation that it’s a question, not a blank statement. 

She stared at him for couple of seconds, eyes wide, her mouth drawn in a line of neutral expression, trying to figure out what he meant, or wanted exactly.  
“O-oh! Yeah, that’s right!”

She pulls away from his grip, she’s towering over him AGAIN, his heart is going wild.  
Connie plants yet another, delicate kiss on his forehead, she pulls away,  
“One…”

OH GOD.  
OH GOD, WHAT HAS HE DONE?!

If one kiss = seventeen feet, then seventeen kisses would result in his heart dropping to what feels like two-hundred and eighty-nine feet and surely would spring back home and hit his head clean off. He was going to die.

Luckily for his health, she’s pretty quick at supplying and counting seventeen more kisses, but there’s definitely a miscalculation here.  
Going by purely logic here, she has giving him a total of NINETEEN KISSES -But only intended to give him seventeen for his birthday. It only seemed fair that he evened out the playing field, right? 

“…It’s…not equal…” he manages to mutter out.  
She’s confused, “What? What do you mean?”  
Steven feels his face heating up even more his hands are shaky, his voice is cracking, he didn’t realise this level of embarrassment was humanly possible-but then again, he wasn’t entirely human.

He use’s his fingers to count out, “T-TWO! You gave me TWO more than intended!”  
Now It’s Connie’s turn to flush, she looks away for a second to think, “N-no...? Only one more than intended...? I think?”  
Steven sits upright, he’s leaning over her now, “No…the…” he adverts his eyes, “…kiss from a couple months ago…? Before Spinel...?”  
Connie sinks back into his pillows, “…Oh yeah…you’re right…we aren’t even…”  
“…Should I…fix it…?” he asks, nervously. 

Ah, typical Steven Cutie-pie-DeMayo-Diamond-Universe always wanting to fix things for other people, she can let this one slide, after all, he’s technically fixing this for himself. 

Connie gulps, “…P-probably?” 

He nods. 

Steven leans in closer to her, one his fingers trails along her neck and to her face, his hand cups her chin. His room is pretty dark at the moment, after all it’s past mid-night. They should both be asleep but here they are, in this strange situation. 

Suddenly, he’s closing the gap between them, his lips land on hers and gently takes her bottom lip in between his. Connie isn’t sure if he intended to aim for there or if he just…misjudged his aim because of how dark his room is right now.  
He pulls away and sits upright legs tucked under him, Connie sits up and joins him, her legs are folded underneath her too and her knees are leaning into him lap. She’s close. 

They both stare at each other for a few seconds, their faces are both coated in pink and red tones, but it’s too dark to see it clearly.  
Connie’s hands reach out to him and crawl up his arms to his shoulders, she gulps, “…We’re still not…even…”  
Steven jumps, “H-huh!?”  
Connie nods and leans in closer to him, this time she’s shaky and shuttering.  
“…Lips…are definitely worth…about three forehead kisses…” 

Oh stars. 

He’s definitely going into cardiac arrest tonight.  
This girl is bad for his health.


End file.
